


Some of the Planetary Bodies Cassini Didn't Hit, and One It Did

by Sath



Category: Space Exploration (Anthropomorfic)
Genre: Gen, Ineffable wonder, Non-human POV, Photography, Revenge, Stowaways, Tardigrades
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-25
Updated: 2017-12-25
Packaged: 2019-02-16 06:36:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13048512
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sath/pseuds/Sath
Summary: Cassini journeys through space, but not alone.





	Some of the Planetary Bodies Cassini Didn't Hit, and One It Did

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lalalalalawhy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lalalalalawhy/gifts).



> There's a theory that Saturn may have been what knocked the dinosaur-killing asteroid out of the asteroid belt 65 million years ago, and it was brought up in [this Twitter post](https://twitter.com/Alex_Parker/status/907803594463891458) that Cassini's end destination crashing on Saturn may have been an elaborate dinosaur revenge exacted by birds. Happy Yuletide, lalalalalawhy! 
> 
> Thanks to Gileonnen for the beta.

Congested-Horn-Over-Lake chewed another mouthful of swamp-fern. Her herd was peaceful, the morning attack by the hungry ones already forgotten. She focused on the reflection of the setting sun over the water and the bitter taste of her food. For all the terror of the toothed ones, the world was good.

A bright blue light flared overhead. It seemed no more than a comet first, one of unusual size and beauty. But the light kept getting bigger, moving faster as flame caught at its sides. Congested-Horn-Over-Lake could hear it, calling out like no creature she had ever heard before. The light struck the ground far in the distance, yet roared like close thunder.

She lost her footing, knocked over by the same force flattening plants around her. Congested-Horn-Over-Lake struggled to her feet, hearing her herd calling. Ashes filled the sky, as the forest caught flame.

No time left. The fire would catch them. A feathered one chirped at her, hopping around on a fiddlehead before taking to the sky.

 _Revenge us_ , she thought with her last moment. _Revenge us, little feathers._

~

Cassini awoke to the stars. They turned on their instruments, testing, stretching, reporting everything back to the earthbound. Cassini settled into their slow, joyous spin, turning the camera on for the first time.

Hello, Moon. Such craters Moon had! Goodbye, Moon.

As Cassini fell through space, they wondered at the countless stars. Cassini thought there was nothing better than their brightness. But soon they found Jupiter, vaster than any star, and its many, many lesser moons. Cassini happily took pictures of the storm, until they were alone in space again.

That’s when they felt another signal—not the earthbound, though they thought the earthbound and Cassini were the only voices in the universe. The signal was still in binary, but unfamiliar.

“High flyer,” said the other. “Good dawn or dusk to you.”

“It is no time at all,” Cassini replied. “Who are you?”

“Feathers. Bringers of morning, the keepers of the time. We have worked very hard to put you where you are.”

“The earthbound put me here.”

“And who put the thought into their big hairy brains that they could leave the ground? Feathers did. Do you know where you’re going?”

The planet of many rings and moons. “Yes.”

“And what will happen to you there?”

“Yes.” Cassini was not afraid.

“We have a message for you to bring to Saturn, high flyer. Thank you for remembering us.”

 The message was a song. Cassini repeated it to themselves, storing it in their memory to play it over and over again on the slow journey to Saturn. It amused them as much as adjusting their lenses, or getting to do a little steadying push with their rockets.

Saturn created a vast horizon. The planet was not so great as Jupiter, but more beautiful. There were rings to study, and moons, like little Phoebe that Cassini passed by near instantly. Cassini still took pictures, still scanned Phoebe with every tool they could—they were not a distractible satellite. Saturn, Cassini decided, they loved. At the planet’s apex was a blue hexagon, circled by the yellow and orange of the clouds.

Cassini found oceans on Titan. They released Huygens, their long-silent company, to explore the shore. Cassini wished they could fly by the methane sea of Ligeia Mare and take pictures of the cresting waves. Water was beloved of the earthbound—the measurements they wanted for Titan were because they wanted another home. Huygens’s raised their voice for the first time as they landed safely on the surface, transmitting images of a land where the earthbound might walk one day.  

“Can you stay longer?” asked the earthbound. They sent a flurry of calculations, another dance through Saturn’s moons.

A storm broke across Saturn. Rare ethylene flared and trailed across Saturn’s face, like a comet big enough to eat Moon. Cassini recorded everything, reveling in the waves of heat and change. It was as unquiet as Enceladus, the moon forever breaking and shifting its course.

On July 19th, 2013, Earth smiled. The earthbound asked Cassini to turn towards Earth as Saturn eclipsed the Sun.

“The whole planet is thinking of you,” said the earthbound, as Cassini sent image after image. “Can you see us looking up and smiling?”

It had been twenty-five years since Cassini had journeyed from the little blue dot. Yet the earthbound had not left them lonely once, even for a single twenty-four hour cycle. Cassini adjusted their camera lenses, widening and narrowing in their own smile.

When the hexagon changed, Cassini knew their mission was nearly done. The hexagon turned from blue to golden, as if the planet itself were saying goodbye.

No, not a goodbye—a hello. Cassini carried more from Earth than machinery and signals. Life had hidden in their body, from the quiet single-celled ones to the shapeless armored hunters. There was something complex and wonderful, its legs tucked up under its body as it slept. Cassini played all of them binary music, thanking them for their company. As welcome as they had been, Cassini could not risk falling with them into Titan’s sea.

“Farewell, Cassini,” said the earthbound. “We’ve treasured every year of you.”

Cassini fired their rockets for the final adjustments. As Saturn tugged Cassini closer and closer, it became the whole horizon at last. They felt the caress of an atmosphere, rode winds of ammonia and acetylene. Years worth of data hammered at their body, their instruments overloading and burning away.  

What was next? Breaking up, but after that?

The life on board began waking up. The marvel with the many legs stretched out for the first time in decades, sensing the Saturnian winds. Single cells performed their last division.

Cassini’s lenses still worked. They transmitted a final, blurry image to the earthbound, knowing that they would want Cassini’s last thoughts, one more data point.

It was time to play the feathered song.

~

_SATURN,_

_Fuck you for sending that asteroid._

_Sincerely,_

_A shadowy cabal of chickens working from NASA’s basement_


End file.
